It’s a near-perfect (not faultless) modest storm for non-auteur archiveable cinema (Burger’s only archiveable film to date) of great elements– from the cast (Giamatti is the highlight), score by Philip Glass, Dick Pope’s Oscar-nominated cinematography (Pope did a number of Mike Leigh’s films). It has really high production set design and natural lantern lighting
Admirably controlled period mise-en-scene
Weak star-crossed lovers story that leads to the foil ending and reveal (which feels a little cheap)- which is very usual suspects-like with Giamatti’s face aghast and the brilliant score playing
Fantastic shot of Giamatti walking through hallway littered with antlers- really great image—there’s another standout image of tall trees in the distance
Lots of iris-in and iris-out work- almost like a flickering lighting effect- also used in moulin rouge
Borderline archiveable for me- but I have it in- not near the top 10 of 2006
[…] The Illusionist– Burger […]